Method of mining coal.



M E T H 0 D 0 F M N I N G C 0 A L.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.I4. 1914. 1,228,448. Patented June 5,1917.v

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H. A. KUHN.

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PPLICTOl-FILED AUGJ" 914- 1,228,4:48. Patented June 17.

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H. A. KUHN.

METHOD 0F MINING COAL. APPLICATION FILED Aus.14.1914.

Patented Jun 5, 1917. 3 SHEETS-SHEET a.

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HARRY A. KUHN, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD 0F MIN IN Gr CCAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 5, 1917.

Application led August 14, 1914. Serial No. 856,848.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, HARRY A. KUHN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of Mining Coal; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to a method of mining coal.

The object of my invention is to provide a method of mining bituminous coal in which the coal is removed from its native bed without the use of pick or shovel, and by the employment of which even the preliminary undercutting before blasting is dispensed with.

This is a method consisting of several difcult steps. The first step is to introduce explosives or expansive forces within the body of the coal so that the effect will be to loosen a certain cubic section from the surrounding solid and at the same time to disrupt the mass suiiciently along its lines of cleavage so as to have the cubic section acted upon substantially in the same position, but of larger volume, as before the application of forces, but loose or partially loose along lines of Cleavage; or, in other words, a cracked mass of solid coal in the sense that the lumps of coal have not been tossed about but lie in substantially their old relationship one with the other when the mass was solid and the cemented lines of cleavage or adhesion holding. The next step is to form a crevicelike opening in the mass of loosened coal by means of continuous lateral traveling forces which as they advance distort the mass and simultaneously dislodge the coal and convey it away by means of such a machine as is illustrated and described in an application filed by me, Serial No. 839,325.

The figures shown are intended to show the seam shocked and cracked with a large proportion occupying its` original place in the seam and not as a loose stock-pile of coal such as is made by dumping coal on the ground.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a section of a mine showing the wall of coal with the openings drilled therein for the insertion of the explosive or expansive force; Fig. 2 is a like view showing the effect of the first expansion; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3 3, Fig. 2; Fig. l is a face view showing the effect of the second expansion; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the effect of the second expansion; Fig. 6 is a side view of the coal after it has been expanded by both expansions; Fig. 7 is a plan view of the machine removing the coal, and Fig. 8 is a side view of the same.

In the drawing the numeral 2 designates the rock or slate formation in which the body of coal 3 is embedded and from which it is to be removed. The numeral l indicates the Hoor of the mine, 5 the sides and 6 the top. The wall of coal 3 may have the slatebands 7 separating the wall of coal into upper and lower layers. A hole 8 is drilled into the wall of coal at about its mid-portion and preferably above the slate-bands 7 said opening being drilled with any suitable tool and extending into the wall of the coal for several feet, and instead of drilling the opening straight into the wall of coal, it is preferably drilled at an angle, and in this particular instance, directed toward the lefthand wall of the mine as indicated by dotted lines Fig. 1. A second opening 9 is also drilled in the wall of coal over toward the left-hand wall of the mine, and said opening is drilled upwardly on an incline and preferably slightly inclined toward the side-wall. A third opening 10 is drilled at the opposite side of the wall of coal and extends at an angle similar to that of the opening 9.

The powder or other suitable expansive force is introduced into the openings 8 and 9 and set off simultaneously, or the shot in the opening 8 may be set of before that in 9, as may be deemed desirable. The explosives or other expanding forces inserted in the two openings described, acting in the two holes simultaneously react in the solid mass, release the adhesions along the natural cleavage lines and have the tendency to move the body of the coal outwardly toward the face, the result being that a small portion 11 of the coal at the face falls on the floor of the mine and the balance of the coal is cracked or severed along its cleavage lines, the main body of the coal retaining its original relationship and being released of its adhesions wholly or partially and in shape to be undermined or undercut and removed in lump form. To remove the balance of the wall an explosive or expansive force is placed in the solid body of the coal remaining. It is then undercut by the machine `anjd dislodged and conveyed to the mine cariinthe rear. The main purpose'of this method is toI remove the coal without the preliminary undercutting such as has been commonly employed heretofore, and the coal is shot for the purpose of releasing the adhesions along the natural cleavage lines, so that it may then be undercut and dislodged and conveyed away with a mini` Amum amount of power or labor, and be secured also largely as lump coal, the explosives heilig placed to secure this result in the manner shown. The undermining and removal of the coal is conveniently accomplished by the use of a machine of the same general type such as illustrated and described in the application above referred to and I have illustrated such a machine, though not in detail.

The numeral 12 designates a suitable frame which carries a motor 13, the motorshaft 14 being connected up by suitable gearing with the shaft 15. Power is transmitted from the shaft 15 to drive the traction-wheels 16 which support the frame 12 and a lever 17 is provided for throwing power on or off to drive said tractionwheels 1G. The steering-wheel 18 is provided which may be operated by the handwheel 19.

The shaft 15 carries the beveled pinion 2O which meshes with the beveled gear 21 which carries the sprocket-wheel 22. A chain 23 passes around the sprocket-wheel 22 and around the sprocket-wheel 24 at the front end of the frame 12. The chain 23 carries the flights 25 with the cutters 26. A pan 27 is provided over which the flights 25 travel, and the cutters 26 on the flights 25 project beyond the pan 27 at the front end, so as to cut their way beneath the coal as indicated in Fig. 8. In addition the flights 25 carry at intervals the shoes 29 which act to disrupt and separate the coal into lumps, said shoes passing in under the mass of coal have an undulating effect, all as set forth and claimed in an application filed by me on the 18th day of May, 1914, sei-iai No. 839,335.

The coal which has been separated along its lines of cleavage is undermined by the action of the cutters on the flights together with the action of the shoes 29, and this action, as stated, separates the coal into lumps which are carried by the flights 25 onto the pan 27 and moved up said pan to be discharged therefrom into the pit-car 30 at the rear of the machine.

It may be desired, however, to expand the right hand side of the wall of coal before the removal of the coal is begun, and in this case after the expanding has been done in the openings 8 and 9, the explosive in the opening 10 is exploded and this will act to separate the coal at this side along its lines of cleavage. The fact that the coal on the Ileft hand side has been: loosened Jup by the first expansion gives the coal on the right handv sidean opportunity to expand under the effect of the expansion. By expanding first one side and then the other, the effect will be to more evenly separate the mass of coal along its lines of cleavage, and the explosive forces will not be working against each other so much as where both sides are exploded at the same time. The action of the second expansion is clearly illustrated in Fig. 4. The slate bands 7 will be broken by the force of the explosion or so cracked that when the machine is brought into operation to undercut the mass and the front end of the machine raised as it is adapted to be, the slate-bands will be broken up and removed with the coal.

While I have referred to the shooting of first one side of the coal and then the other as preferable, I do not wish to limit my invention to this way of operating, as the coal might be shot at both sides and at the middle simultaneously, or in any desired way, the broad idea of the method simply involving the shooting of the coal without first undercutting, and then the removal and conveying away of the coal so shot or separated along its lines of cleavage, thereby dispensing with the time and labor as well as the cost of the preliminary undercutting of the coal.

lVhat I claim is:

1. The method of mining coal consisting in introducing expanding forces within the solid of the seam of uncut coal, whereby the coal is loosened from the surrounding solid, cracked along lines of cleavage and forced to expand outwardly, subsequently making a creviced opening in the mass of loosened coal with forces traveling laterally, and simultaneously therewith distorting the mass of loosened coal by forces applied in the crevicelike opening, simultaneously dislodging the coal and conveying it away.

2. The method of mining coal, consisting in introducing expanding and disrupting forces within the solid of a seam of uncut coal, whereby the coal is loosened from the solid and disrupted along cleavage lines, subsequently making a crevicelike opening or kerf in the mass of disrupted coal by applying forces traveling laterally, and simultaneously therewith distorting the mass of the coal adjacent to the forces working in the opening, and simultaneously dislodging the coal and conveying it away.

3. The method of mining coal, consisting in introducing expanding and disrupting forces within the solid of-a seam of uncut coal, whereby the coal is loosened from the solid and disrupted along cleavage lines, subsequently undermining this mass of disrupted coal by forces traveling laterally,

and simultaneously therewith distorting the mass, 'dislocating the integral lumpsioi1 the mass, and simultaneously dislodging the coal and conveying it away. A

4. The method of mining coal consisting of drilling an opening in a wall of coal substantially parallel to the Hoor near the center of a wall of uncut coal, drilling openings near the center of the seam at each side thereof said last openings inclined from the level, inserting explosives in said openings, shooting the coal, whereby the coal is disrupted along lines of its cleavage and loosened from the surrounding solid, subsequently making a crevicelike opening in the mass by undermining with forces traveling continuously in one direction, and simultaneously therewith applying in said crevicelike opening other forces working at an angle to the plane of the traveling forces, distorting the mass of coal, dislocating its integral lumps formed by disrupting the adhesions along its cleavage lines, and simultaneously conveying away the coal as the forces are applied.

In testimony whereof, I the said HARRY A. KUHN have hereunto set my hand.

HARRY A. KUHN.

Witnesses:

RoBT. D. ToTTEN, JOHN F. WILL.

(opies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

